President Maithripala Sirisena instructed the relevant authorities to take immediate steps to fill the vacancies of senior officials at the Department of Archaeology.
The President further said that this step should be taken immediately to eliminate the obstacles pertaining to the archaeological issues and to protect the archaeological sites.He gave these instructions during a special discussion held at the Presidential Secretariat, (24) under the patronage of the President, regarding protecting archaeological sites and antiquities.
Recently, President Sirisena gave instructions to deploy Civil Defence Force to protect the archaeological sites and during this meeting the President inquired into the progress of that initiative.The Director General of Civil Defence Force, stated that already members of the Civil Defence Force have been deployed for the protection of recognized archaeological sites.
During the meeting attention has been drawn to the issues related to their accommodation facilities and a proposal has been made to introduce a programme to provide knowledge regarding archaeology to the members of the Civil Defence Force. It was also discussed to implement a programme to protect the archaeological sites in the North and East.
The Maha Sangha appreciated the initiatives taken by the President to protect the historic heritage of the country for the benefit of the future generation. Monks and laymen in the field of the archaeology participated at this meeting.
